Planter and fertilizer-distributer



2 sheet -s een 1.

(No Model.)

' E. BREWSTER.

PLANIER AND FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTEE. N0. 510,498.

PatentedDeo. 12,1893.

THE NATIONAL uTuoeRAPHlm OOMFANY WAG Karon. u. c.

UNITED Y STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELISHA BREVSTER, OF BESSEMER, ALABAMA.

PLANTER AND FERTILIZER-DISTRIBUTER.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,498, dated December 12, 1893.

Application filed March 25, 1893. Serial No- 467,534. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELISHA BREWSTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bessemer, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented a new and useful Combined Planter and Fertilizer-Distributer, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in combined planters and fertilizer distributors, the objects in view being to produce a machine of strong, durable and economical construction; which is adapted to be readily changed by the operator from a machine adapted to drop fertilizer in predetermined quantities to a machine adapted to planting cotton, &c. to provide for a ready adjustment of the capacity of the machine as regards its output or discharge and to arrange the means for opening and closing the discharge opening within ready grasp of the operator while mounted upon the machine.

With these and otherobjects'in view, the invention consists in certain features of construction hereinafter specified and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referringto the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom perspective. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view. Fig. 4 is a detail in .perspective of one of the sliding cut-offs and what of the contour of the sides are appliedto their exteriors. The front and rear cross pieces .2 and 3 extend down the front and back of the body to points near the lower ends of the sides and the bottom 6 which is formed of sheet metal is secured at its edges to the bottom edges of the front and rear cross strips and at its opposite side edges to the lower edges of the sides, the said bottom being curved in conformity with the lower edges of said sides. The bottom is provided with a longitudinal, oblong discharge slot 7 at its middle, and in front and rear of said discharge slot or opening 7 is further provided or has secured thereunder parallel transversely-disposed guide cleats or. ways 8 in which there is mounted for sliding a pair of cut-off plates 9 whose inner edges are preferably scalloped as shown at 10, said scallops being opposite each other in the two plates so that when said plates are brought together they produce circular openings. Secured to the lower edges of the sides 1, slightly to one side of the centers of the cut-off plates 9 are guide castings 11 and through these castings extend shanks or ta ngs 12 which are formed on or secured to the outer edges of the cut-off plates 9. Secured to the opening in the opposite sides 1 are metal journal boxes 13 and through these and the hopper constructed as described is passed the revoluble axle 14 to whose extremities ground wheels 15 are secured, the inner faces of the hubs of said wheels being ratchet-toothed, as shown at 16. Clutch sleeves 17 are mounted upon the axle at the inner side of each ground Wheel and being ratchet-toothed are adapted to engage the hubs. Between the inner ends of the sleeves and washers 18, mounted on the axle adjacent to each of the journal boxes 13, coiled springs 19, are located, the tendency of said springs being to force the sleeves outward whereby they operatively engage with the toothed hub so that, as .will be obvious,when such engagement takes place, the axle is rotated with the ground wheels, and onthe other hand, when not in engagement, the wheels -rotate while the axle remains stationary.

In brackets 20 which project from the sides 1 of the machine, there is fulcrumed as at 21 opposite levers 22, whose upper ends are bifurcated or slotted for a portion of their length and embrace toothed rack-bars 23, which project from and are secured to the opposite ends of the seat-board 24, which is located upon standards 25 rising from the upper edges of the sides 1. Bell-crank levers 26, are pivoted as at 27, to the upper ends of the hand-levers 22, and to these are connected the lower ends of lockingbolts 28, which through the medium of coiled-springs 29, are normally pressed downward so as to engage with convenient teeth of the rack-bars 23. Between their ends the levers 22 are provided with eyes or openings 30, and the same receive loosely the sleeves 17. Bars 31, are secured to and project outwardly from the cut-off plates 9, said bars being provided at their outer extremities with slots 32, through which bolts 33, pass and serve as means for pivoting thereto in an adjustable manner the lower ends of the hand levers 22. It will thus be seen that by disconnecting the locking bolts from the rackbars the hand-levers will be immediately forced by the springs 10 outward as will also be the clutch-sleeves, so that as a consequence the clutch-sleeves will be thrown into engagement with the toothed-hubs of the wheels and the cut-off plates will be spread or opened to an extent governed by the point at which the locking bolts are permitted to engage with the rack-bars. In this manner, the opening or discharge in the bottom of the hopper may be increased or diminished or closed. By adjusting the bolts 33 which connect the lower ends of the hand-levers 22 with the bars 31 of the cut-0d plates, it will be seen that the limit of outward movement or spread of the plates may be increased or diminished.

The center of the axle has fixed thereon a hub 34, from which rotate a series of stirringarms 35 arranged directly over the opening 7 in the bottom of the hopper and adapted to force the fertilizer or cotton through said bottom-opening. At each side of the stirrer and upon the axle, there is located a feed-screw 36, also adapted to turn with theaxle and having its blades so disposed as to automatically feed the fertilizer or cotton toward the center of the machine and farther into the path of the stirring-arms 35, so that as long as there is any fertilizer or cotton in the machine it is sure to be fed to the pointof discharge.

The operation of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing description of the construction, in connection with which said operation was mentioned, and it seems only necessary to add, that bya regulation of the opening in the bottom through the medium of thehand-levers and their accessories the output or discharge of fertilizer may be readily regulated to discharge so much to the acre. By closing the cut-off plates and leaving only the perforations as a means of exit or discharge, the machine is adapted to discharge cotton Of course, these perforations may be omitted and the machine only employed for the discharge of fertilizer if so desired.

The thills 37, are connected at their rear ends to two metal draft-straps which draftstraps are bolted to the reinforcing metalstraps 5.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a machine of the class described, the opposite sides having the lower curved edges, the front and rear connecting pieces terminating above the lower edges of the sides, the metal reinforcing-strips applied to the sides and partaking of their contour, the tie-bolts passing through the strips and connecting the sides, the sheet-metal bottom secured to the curved edges of the sides and lower edges of the front and rear walls and provided with a central-opening, the guides at opposite sides thereof, the cut-offs mounted for sliding in the guides, the levers pivoted at the sides of the hopper and at their lower ends loosely connected to the cut-offs, and locking devices for the levers, of an axle, ground-wheels for the axle, and feed-devices carried by the axle, substantially as specified.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination with the hopper having a rounded bottom provided with an opening, the axle, feed-devices thereon and ground-wheels for the axle, of cut-off plates arranged in guidecleats under the bottom, tangs extending from the outer ends of the cut-off plates, cast-metal guides for the reception of the tangs secured to the hopper, levers pivoted at the sides of the hopper, and connecting devices between the levers and cut-off plates, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed mysignature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELISIIA BREWSTER.

\Vitnesses:

L. J. HALEY, J r., JOHN P. CARPENTER. 

